Self-locking seal.



No. 777,869. PATENTED DEC. 20, 1904.

- E. TYDEN.

SELF LOOKING SEAL.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. s. 1904.

N0 MODEL.

Patented December 20, 1904.

UNITED STATES PATENT @FEIQE.

EMIL TYDEN, OF HASTINGS, MICHIGAN.

SELF-LOCKING sEA L.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 777,869, dated December 20, 1904. Application filed February 8, 1904. Serial No. 192.574.

1'0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EMIL TYDEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hastings, in the county of Barry and State of Michigan, have invented new and useful Improvements in Self a self-locking seal embodying the present invention, the two elements of the seal which are adapted to be engaged for locking being shown in unengaged position. Fig. 2 is a plan view showing the two elements partly engaged, but not forced into locking position. Fig. 3 is a plan view showing the parts fully engaged and locked. Fig. 4 is a section at the line L 4 on Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a section at the line 5 5 on Fig. 3.

The two elements of this seal which are engaged for locking are formed or secured at opposite ends of the connecting-strap 1, which is made, as customary, of sheet metal. At one end of the strap there is formed the exterior locking element or housing 2, the strap being broadened at that end in proper form to furnish material which may be struck up out of the sheet metal to constitute such housing, the metal being severed at the dotted line 3, the severance not extending entirely across the width, but adapting the intermediate portion to be struck up by the proper die so as to form a dome or hood-like cover for a housing, which is completed by the bottom plate 4:, clenched about both lateral margins and the intermediate end margin of the broadened portion of the strap, as seen most clearly in Fig. 1. The form of the hood is such as to yield two lateral recesses 5 and 6 in the cavity of the housing, the shoulders which bound these recesses being abruptthat is, substantially at right angles to the length of the cavity and of the strap. The bottom plate 4 has a V- shaped boss 7 struck up from it near enough to the end to stand substantially at the end of the cavity with the apex pointing back toward the mouth of the housing-cavity. At the other end of the strap 1 there is a catch for insertion into the housing. The blank is formed with a widened portion 9, which is folded up, as seen in the drawings, so as to make an oblong tube 10 substantially rectangular in the cross-section of its cavity, and in the lateral or edge walls of the tube there are formed two apertures 11 and 12. These apertures are preferably not directly opposite each other. In this oblong tube there is lodged a wire spring 13, which is made of a piece of wire bent substantially at right angles at each end to form transversely-projecting terminals 14: 15, the wire being then folded a little one side of the middle point into the form seen in the several drawings, which is such that it is adapted to be introduced into the tube 10, the two terminal projections let and 15 projecting in opposite directions by reason of the folding of the wire upon itself and the spring reacting to press the terminal projections against the lateral or edge walls of the tube, so that when properly placed longitudinally in the tube said projections may protrude through the apertures 11 and 12, respectively. At the end of the tube the side walls have a V-shaped notch 17 in position to 1 I stride or be entered by the V-shaped boss 7 in the bottom plate 4: when the catch comprising the spring in the rectangular tube described is intruded longitudinally into the housing. The spring 13 is lodged in the rec-v tangular tube with its bow or fold at the end opposite the terminals substantially even with the end of the tube, and its length is such that at this position the two terminals 1 1 and 15 bear against the side walls a little back of the apertures 11 and 12, respectively, so that if the spring should be pushed into the tube a little farther the terminals would snap out through said apertures. IVith the catch in this condition the seals are prepared for market. When used for locking, the strap being passed through the hasp or staple or around the article to be secured, the inner element or catch comprising the rectangular tube and the spring 13 therein is thrust into the housing or outer element and forced inward until the boss 7, oncountering the bow of the spring 13, causes the latter to be pushed back in the tube until the terminals 14C and 15 snap through the apertures l1 and 12, and the length of the parts is so calculated with respect to the position of the recesses 5 and 6 that the apertures are opposite these recesses, respectively, when the terminals of the spring snap through the recesses, so that this having occurred said terminals engaging in said recesses prevent the withdrawal of the interior element. The edge walls of the rectangular tube in which the spring is lodged fit snugly between the side walls of the housing, so that the terminals 14 and 15, thrust through the apertures in said edge walls, operate to the full extent of their resistance to shearing to secure the parts together, the shoulders which bound the recesses 5 and 6 being, as stated, abrupt, so that their corners constitute a shearing edge opposed to the edges of the apertures.

1 claim l. A self-locking seal comprising a housing and a catch adapted to be inserted thereinto, such catch comprising in its construction a spring lodged therein under restraint and adapted to be moved in its lodgment to released position and at such position to effect engagement of the catch with the housing, and means within the housing for encountering and releasing the spring when the catch is intruded into the housing.

2. A self-locking seal comprising a housing and a catch for insertion thereinto, such catch comprising in its construction an elasticallyoperating part under restraint and adapted when released to expand into engagement with the housing, and means within the housing encountered by the catch for effecting such release.

3. A self-locking seal comprising a housing and a catch for insertion thereinto, such catch comprising in its construction a spring lodged therein under restraint and adapted to be moved in its lodgment to released position, the spring having projections for engaging the housing when released from restraint, and means within the housing for encountering and releasing the spring.

4:. A self-locking scal comprising a housing open at one end and having lateral abruptshouldered recesses; a catch adapted to be intruded into the open end of the housing and to substantially close the same, the catch comprising in its construction a spring lodged and restrained therein, movable to released position, and adapted to expand into the recess of the housing when released, the housing having means encountered by the catch for effecting such release.

5. A self-locking seal comprising a housing open at one end and closed at the other end, having lateral recesses intermediate the ends and an abutment toward the closed end; a catch adapted to be inserted into the open end and to substantially close the same when thus inserted, the catch comprising in its construction a spring lodged therein under restraint, and adapted to be moved in its lodgment to released position, said spring consisting of a wire folded upon itself intermediate its ends and having the ends bent outward in opposite directions, and adapted when released to protrude laterally for engagement with the recesses in the housing, the bend of the spring being protruded from the catch for encounter with the abutment in the housing when the catch is inserted into the latter for moving the spring to released position as the catch is pushed in.

6. A self-locking seal comprising a securingstrap having at one end a housing and at the other end a catch for insertion into the housing, the catch comprising in its construction an elastically-operating part lodged therein under restraint and adapted when released to expand into engagement with the housing, and means within the housing encountered when the catch is intruded for effecting such release.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand, in the presence of two witnesses, at Hastings, Michigan, this Lth day of February, 1904.

EMIL TYDEN.

In presence of A. 0. BROWN, M. L. CooK. 

